Ed Miliband said a mansion tax would help pay for restoring the 10p tax band (Picture: PA)

Ed Miliband has made a surprise call for the 10p rate of income tax, originally scrapped by Gordon Brown, to be reintroduced.

In a bid to outflank the government on the economy, the Labour leader said society would be fairer if the band was reinstated.

During a much-hyped speech in Bedford, Mr Miliband said a new ‘mansion tax’ on homes valued at more than £2million would fund the move.

The announcement came as a surprise after the speech was previously billed as featuring no significant policy announcements, a fact mocked by David Cameron during prime minister’s questions yesterday, raising speculation it was a last-minute addition.

Mr Miliband’s team chose Bedford as the location for his speech after former Conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan famously made his ‘you’ve never had it so good’ address there in 1957.

Mr Miliband said ahead of next month’s Budget that a Labour government would ‘lay the foundations for a recovery made by the many, not just a few at the top’.

‘Let me tell you about one crucial choice we would make, which is different from this government,’ he continued.

‘We would tax houses worth over £2million. And we would use the money to cut taxes for working people.

‘We would put right a mistake made by Gordon Brown and the last Labour government.

‘We would use the money raised by a mansion tax to reintroduce a lower 10p starting rate of tax, with the size of the band depending on the amount raised.’

Mr Miliband added: ‘This would benefit 25million basic rate taxpayers – moving Labour on from the past and putting Labour where it should always have been – on the side of working people.’

Responding to the speech while campaigning in Eastleigh, Mr Cameron said Labour had announced a ‘policy that has been cobbled together overnight’.